So this was all about proving himself to his old man? Wu Jian could understand and even respect that. Was that not what all young men wanted? Wu Jian often wanted to earn the approval and respect of his Father as well.

But he would still never respect Ming Shen.

The boy was arrogant and had no regard for others. Who cared if he went through a hard time? A lot of people had it rough. Nothing about his circumstances were special, and to make matters worse, he treated others like crap, bringing them down to elevate himself. Wu Jian wouldn’t sympathize with someone like him.

The two attacked again. Ming Shen seemed to have learned from their last round, for he avoided firing off chi blasts and instead attacked with his sword. Wu Jian was forced to block each swing. His arm felt heavy as he deflected the blows, but it wasn’t so bad. Ming Shen might have been able to use chi to enhance his physical prowess, but Wu Jian’s strength was tested at over sixteen thousand. Even without chi, he was incredibly powerful.

“Damn it! Damn it damn it damn it! Why! Can’t! I! Beat! You?! Why are you so much better than me?! Why were you born with all this talent?! I’m the one at the Hunger Realm! I should be stronger than you!”

Ming Shen screamed as he attacked Wu Jian, releasing what must have been a lot of pent up emotions. How long had he been keeping these feelings locked inside? Wu Jian had always known of this man’s jealousy. Ever since the first tournament he participated in, when he nearly defeated Ming Shen at the tender age of nine, this person had hated him. All that hatred was coming out now.

But so what? Who cares if he hates me? This frog in a well has always coveted things that aren’t his, and he plays dirty to get his way. I’ll prove to him here and now that all the hard work I put into getting stronger can match and exceed any dirty trick he might try to pull!

Had their cultivation been equal, Wu Jian would have had the advantage.Ming Shen was raging. A person who was angry made irrational decisions. With their mind clouded, they were prone to making mistakes, but he could only capitalize on those mistakes if their strength was about equal. Unfortunately, Ming Shen was at the Hunger Realm, and his powers seemed to grow in response to his anger.

A swing from the left nearly took Wu Jian’s head off. He leapt back. The sword whooshed audibly as it came close to grazing his neck.

Another swing. Ming Shen roared as he brought the weapon down. Wu Jian sidestepped and watched as a large furrow was gouged into the stone floor.

If he could have, Wu Jian would have countered the man, but that was impossible when Ming Shen was so much faster than him. He must have been enhancing his body with chi.

Chi could be used to enhance more than just strength. A cultivator’s speed, reflexes, and even their flexibility could be boosted by properly channeling chi through one’s meridians.

Breathing ragged, chest aching with every inhale, all Wu Jian could do was avoid the brunt of the older man’s attacks. He dodged whenever he could. When dodging proved impossible, he angled his weapon in such a way that Ming Shen’s blade glanced off. This allowed him to block without taking the brunt of an attack.

But even this method of avoiding damage wouldn’t work forever.

Mistakes would eventually be made.

Wu Jian grunted as he blocked another swing of Ming Shen’s sword. He was unable to angle his blade this time, and the attack was so strong that his dagger flew out of his hand, leaving him defenseless.

Ming Shen wasn’t done yet.

He attacked again.

The sound of his blade cutting the air whistled loud enough to alert Wu Jian to the danger. He ducked as the man swung again. He pressed his hands flat against the ground, lifted his legs, and kicked. His attack was powerful. A loud bang like fireworks going off echoed around them as he kicked Ming Shen’s sword from his hands.

“I’ll kill you!!!”

Yet before he had time to get back up, Ming Shen launched another chi blast that struck Wu Jian in the chest. He screamed in pain as his chest felt like it was being burned. The attack was so strong he was lifted off his hands, flew into the air, and crashed painfully to the ground. Another scream of pain tried to tear itself from his throat, but he bit it back.

That… hurt. Dammit. Come on, Wu Jian. Get up! The fight isn’t over yet, so stand on your feet!

Footsteps echoed to him. Grimacing, he sat up and yanked his arm back into place as Ming Shen walked over, breathing raggedly as he picked up his sword along the way. There was madness in his eyes. It made Wu Jian shiver. This went further than hatred. No one he had seen before had ever looked at him with eyes like this. It was enough to chill his blood.

“You… I am going to kill you… I’m gonna kill you. I’m gonna kill you! I’m gonna kill you so go ahead and die!!!”

Mouth set firmly in a snarl, Ming Shen raised the sword above his head, prepared to bring it down and end Wu Jian’s life. Madness burned as he glared down at the fallen young man.

Wu Jian thought he saw his life flash before his eyes. Time seemed to slow. Yet just before Ming Shen could bring the blade down, he grunted and stumbled forward. Glancing down, he saw the hilt of a dagger embedded firmly in his torso.

Before he could really register this, another one was stabbed into his other side, then another went into his back, and the last one burst through his neck. Blood splattered against Wu Jian’s face and clothes. Dropping the sword, Ming Shen stumbled forward before falling face first into the stone floor.

A heavily injured Wu Meiying and Hou Jingshu stood behind him. Both were bleeding severely and Hou Jingshu was nursing an obviously broken arm. The bone was bent at an angle it wasn’t supposed to go. However, they were both alive and that was what mattered.

“See? I told you you’d need my help,” Wu Meiying said.

“You were right.” Wu Jian smiled as the two held out their hands. He grabbed them and let them help him up. “Thanks for the help.”

“Any time,” she said.

“I think we should head back home,” Hou Jingshu sighed as she looked at the darkening sky. “I want to see how the fight is going.”

“Same. Let’s go,” Wu Jian said.

***

It took almost an hour to get back home. All three of them had received varying degree of injuries. The one who had suffered the most was Wu Meiying, who had fought against three Hunger Realm cultivators at the same time to buy Wu Jian and Hou Jingshu enough time to finish off the other eight. She walked between them. Her arms were slung over their shoulders as they half dragged her along with them.

No one was near the back of the clan compound, but more people began appearing as they got closer. The clash of weapons, the roar of techniques, and the screams of pain echoed around them. It sounded like there were indeed people fighting beyond the wall. Wu Jian turned his head as an explosion lit up the night sky and sent massive plumes of fire into the air.

“We had it easy,” he murmured.

“You say that, but we’re just Body Forging Realm cultivators,” Hou Jingshu said. “If you ask me, we had it even harder because we were outnumbered and forced to fight people who can use chi.”

“True. Guess I didn’t think of that.” Wu Jian looked down at Wu Meiying, whose head was bobbing and dipping. “We need to hurry. Meiying is already nearly unconscious.”

“Yeah. Let’s… keep going,” Hou Jingshu agreed.

With her help, they half-carried, half-dragged Wu Meiying to the hospital, which was already filled with even more injured people. They walked through the hall until they came to the room where Wu Shaolin was. He was already treating another patient, but he turned their way when the door opened, eyes widening when he saw the extent of their injuries.

“W-what happened to you three?!”

“It’s a long story,” Wu Jian said with a sigh. “Can you treat Mei and Jingshu first?”

“I need to treat all three of you!”

Wu Jian shook his head. “I’m not as injured as they are. Please, heal them right now. I need to let Wu Taohua know our enemies tried to sneak in through the testing grounds.”

Wu Shaolin looked like he wanted to argue, but he said nothing and took both Wu Meiying and Hou Jingshu off his hands.

“Help me get Wu Meiying into bed,” Wu Shaolin said.

Wu Jian did as asked, laying the young girl down. He removed her shoes and damaged articles of clothing. The bandages that normally kept her chest confined were torn. Blood leaked from numerous wounds on her torso. Wu Jian grimaced as he reached out and wiped some of the sweat and blood from her body. That was the best he could do right now.

“I’ll be back. I promise,” he whispered as he leaned down and pressed his lips to Wu Meiying’s forehead.

“Wu Jian…”

He turned to Hou Jingshu, who lay on the bed beside Wu Meiying’s. He smiled and kissed her forehead as well. She blushed, but she didn’t resist.

Wu Jian soon left with a promise to return as soon as he reported to Wu Taohua. Then he left for the front gate, where he discovered Elder Wu Jinsu and Elder Wu Nin standing atop a battlement.

He wondered what they were doing at first, but then he saw them holding their hands in a dragon seal. A massive explosion rocked the area several seconds later, light flared in front of the gate, and that was when he realized there was some kind of barrier preventing the people on the other side from breaking in.

“Damn cowards, hiding behind their shield! Come out and face me!” a hardy, strong, but very unpleasant voice shouted from beyond the walls.

Because he couldn’t see Wu Taohua anywhere, Wu Jian went over to a ladder and climbed onto the wall. Situated on the other side of the wall was an army of at least one hundred people. He had no idea how strong all of them were, but they were dressed in armor, carrying weapons, and looked ready for a fight.

Standing at the front of this group was a large man with a buzzed head. Wu Jian would have said he looked like a monk, except his face was covered in scars and his body was bulkier than a bear. Arms thicker than Wu Jian’s waist extended from a body layered with so much muscle he wondered how the man moved. Eyebrows like swords sat above crimson eyes narrowed in a fierce glare. The man bearing his teeth and wielding a sword that stood nearly as tall as him must have been the leader of the Fierce Tiger Sect.

Even as Wu Jian watched on, the man raised his sword and channeled so much chi into his weapon that the entire thing lit up with a crimson glow. Flames exploded from the weapon like flares. With a fierce, tiger-like roar, he brought the weapon down and unleashed all the chi in a tornado of condensed flames.

The conflagration slammed into a blue barrier that appeared before it. Several symbols made of chi floated within the barrier. Pronounced Biju, the ancient word meant shelter in the current tongue. This meant the protection they were relying on was made something that had been made from seals. As he climbed the rest of the way up the wall, the flames sizzled out.

“Fuck! Why is this barrier so damn strong?!” cursed Hu Li.

“Elder Wu Jinsu!” Wu Jian called out as he walked over.

“Young Master Wu Jian! What are you doing here?! And why are you so injured?!” Elder Wu Jinsu glanced at him in surprise, then did a double take when he saw how beat up Wu Jian was.

“Ming Shen, Juishi Meirin, Wu Ming, and eight other people tried to sneak in through the testing ground. We killed them… but it came at a price, as you can see,” he said.

“I see. I’m not pleased you went off when we told you to stay put, but, well, we can talk about this later,” Elder Wu Jinsu said.

Down below, Hu Li had listened into the conversation and crossed his arms. “So you’re saying those brats failed? Well, guess that’s that then. Everyone! Our objective here has failed and I’m not gonna be able to break through this barrier. Signal the retreat.”

One of the people within the group fired a chi blast into the air, which exploded and lit up the sky. Hu Li took one last look at them and locked eyes with Wu Jian before flashing a grin, turning around, and leaving with the one hundred or so men under his command. His indomitable back was intimidating even during a retreat.

Wu Jian didn’t know what, exactly, was happening, but it seemed whatever plan they had concocted hinged on Ming Shen and his group successfully executing whatever they had been attempting to do. That meant they were safe.

For now, at least.